Great post, Amy. Lasagna and chili are great ideas for a group. Not very original, but they always please a big group.

If you’ve got a grill, I highly recommend these kabobs. They are always a hit at our house when we have people over.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Kabobs

Serves 6
Marinate time – 1 hour or overnight
Prep time – 25 min
Cook time – 20 min

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
10 large mushrooms, cut in half
2 green onions, minced
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into chunks
1/2 pound sliced thick cut bacon, cut in half
1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
skewers

Mix the soy sauce, cider vinegar, honey, canola oil, and green onions. Place the mushrooms and chicken into the mixture, and stir to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

Preheat grill for high heat.

Wrap the chicken chunks with bacon, and thread onto skewers so that the bacon is secured. Alternate with mushroom halves and pineapple chunks.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Arrange skewers on the prepared grill. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, brushing occasionally with remaining soy sauce mixture, until bacon is crisp and chicken juices run clear.

Tacos and pizza (or flatbreads) are an excellent way to serve a group. You can have different ingredients out to accommodate meat eaters and vegetarians, and everyone can serve themselves. It’s easy and fun.

My favorites are chili, lasagna, and enchiladas since you can make two batches, and make one with meat and one without. You can also make them ahead of time.

This is a vegetarian recipe from The Barefoot Contessa that I have made several times for a group and it always goes over great. It actually resembles mac-n-cheese, but with potatoes, instead of pasta. You could probably add ground sausage to make it more of a meal, instead of a side although I think it’s plenty filling on it’s own.

Cauliflower Gratin

Serves 6
Prep – 20 min
Cook – 30 min

1 head cauliflower, cut into large florets
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups hot milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 cup freshly grated Gruyere, divided
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cook the cauliflower florets in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute, or until thickened. Off the heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt, the pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup of the Gruyere, and the Parmesan.

Pour 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of an 8 by 11 by 2-inch baking dish. Place the drained cauliflower on top and then spread the rest of the sauce evenly on top. Combine the bread crumbs with the remaining 1/4 cup of Gruyere and sprinkle on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over the gratin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

I remember finding this recipe several years ago from Cooking Light and thinking “huh? This isn’t light at all!!” I’ve made it so many times though. It’s absolutely outstanding. If you’re not on a diet…

Hash Brown Casserole with Bacon, Onions, and Cheese

6 bacon slices
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (32-ounce) package frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes
1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded Four Cheese blend, divided
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10.75-ounce) can condensed 30% reduced-sodium, 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
Cooking spray

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and crumble. Discard drippings in pan. Add 1 cup onion and garlic to pan; cook for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the potatoes; cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine crumbled bacon, 1/4 cup cheese, green onions, sour cream, salt, pepper, and soup in a large bowl. Add potato mixture; toss gently to combine. Spoon mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove casserole from refrigerator; let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake casserole, covered, at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until bubbly around edges and cheese begins to brown.

Love this post. These are all great suggestions, but does anyone have any ideas/recipes for the warmer months? I have a hard time trying to figure out good salads or casseroles for a large group in the summertime.

I haven’t checked out the individual recipes, but most look like they can be made ahead of time and put in the freezer for later use. I’ve made your pulled pork (delicious) and had so much that I froze for later use. It was just as good the second time around, especially since I saved the gravy in a separate container.

Thanks for this post! I think I have several poker meals in the queue now!

Yeah…spaghetti sauce…

Homemade chicken matzoh ball soup

For Carrie…..Chinese chicken salad….make chick salad… add can of chinese noodles…
cashew nuts….(also chopped apples)…even can well-drained mandarin oranges..

yummy

Fettuccine With Bolognese Sauce

5 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp minced onion
2 Tbsp minced carrot
2 Tbsp minced celery
3/4 lb meatloaf mix or 1/4 lb each ground beef chuck, ground veal, and ground pork
salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with their juice
1 lb fresh or dried fettuccine
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Don’t drain the pasta of its cooking water too meticulously when using this sauce; a little water left clinging to the noodles will help distribute the very thick sauce evenly over the noodles, as will the addition of 2 Tbsp of butter along with the sauce. If doubling this recipe, increase the simmering times for the milk and the wine to 30 minutes each, and increase the simmering time once the tomatoes are added to 4 hours.

1. Heat 3 Tbsp butter in large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes. Add ground meat and 1/2 tsp salt; crumble meat into tiny pieces with edge of wooden spoon. Cook, continuing to crumble meat, just until it loses its raw color but has not yet browned, about 3 minutes.

2. Add milk and bring to a simmer; continue to simmer until milk evaporates and only clear fat remains, 10 to 15 minutes. Add wine and bring to a simmer; continue to simmer until wine evaporates, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Add tomatoes and their juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low so that sauce continues to simmer just barely, with occasional bubble or two at surface, until liquid has evaporated, about 3 hours (if lowest burner setting is too high to allow very low simmer, use flame tamer—see right). Adjust seasonings with salt to taste. Keep sauce warm. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days or frozen for several months. Warm over low heat before serving.)

3. Bring 4 qrt water to rolling boil in large pot. Add 1 Tbsp salt and pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta, leaving some water dripping from noodles. Toss with sauce and remaining 2 Tbsp butter. Distribute among individual bowls and serve immediately, passing Parmesan cheese separately.

I recently got a Raclette Grill from my sister as a gift and have found it to be a fun thing to use when we have company. Have you heard of these? It’s an electric grill on top with sort of “cheese melting” trays underneath. Since it’s a relatively small grill you can use it on a tabletop so everyone can put on their own meat veggies choice of cheese etc… and you take off what’s done as you add more and so on… As it gets going, it makes a surprising amount of food in a pretty quick amount of time. It also makes me think of fondue which I think is also fun to do with a group!!

If you’re talking about even larger groups I’m a big fan of the casserole and a big salad. My favorite is the squash a black bean one, which is only applicable to this post if you make it ahead of time. It takes some work, but can be frozen ahead of time and cooks up beautifully. If anyone is interested in the recipe I’d be happy to pass it on!! I like that it’s all in one dish for easy clean up.